New medical informatics master's program offered

Rochester Institute of Technology (RIT) and the University of Rochester are partnering to offer a joint master's degree in medical informatics. It is the first time that the universities have collaborated to offer a joint degree program.

RIT is among the nation's top 15 largest private universities, is a top 100 school, and is nationally renowned for its computing degree programs. University of Rochester is one of the country's top-tier research universities known for its excellence in medical education.

"Now is the perfect time for this partnership," said David Krusch, MD, a practicing surgeon, director of the Division of Medical Informatics and CMIO at the University of Rochester Medical Center, and co-director of the program. "In the history of modern healthcare there has never been a greater need for health and information technology professionals, and this program aims at providing excellent training for just those people."

The American Medical Informatics Association projects a need for more than 50,000 new health IT workers in the next five to seven years.

Employment opportunities for medical informaticians will be found in a variety of settings, RIT officials say, including hospitals and other healthcare institutions; private healthcare practices; medical software companies; pharmaceutical companies, medical device and medical technology companies; public health organizations; government and non-government agencies; insurance; and research laboratories.

RIT's job placement rate institute-wide is 95 percent, officials of the school claim.

Students matriculate at either RIT's B. Thomas Golisano College of Computing and Information Sciences or the University of Rochester School of Medicine and Dentistry and will take courses at both campuses to maximize their learning and the expertise that each institution provides. Students will graduate from the institution at which they matriculated but will receive a common diploma bearing the seals of RIT and the University of Rochester.

Applications are currently being accepted for fall 2012 consideration. Scholarships are available. More information is available here.